Mother Tongue Level of Sakha Children in the Monoethnic Environment of the Sakha Republic

The relevance of the research topic arises from the need to provide a scientifically sound description of the linguistic situation and to find solutions for preserving the Sakha language in the context of a linguistic shift when children lose their mother tongue, even in a monoethnic environment. The study aimed to determine the level of the native language of Sakha children aged 5 to 17 years in 14 districts of the Republic of Sakha, where the Sakha–speaking population predominates (Amginsky, Vilyuysky, Verkhnevilyuysky, Verkhoyansky, Gorny, Megino-Kangalassky, Namsky, Nyurbinsky, Srednekolymsky, Suntarsky, Tattinsky, Ust-Aldan, Churapchinsky, Khangalassky), as well as in four kindergartens and three schools in Yakutsk with a Sakha-speaking environment. The scientific novelty of the study is that a comprehensive sociolinguistic study of the mother tongue level of Sakha-speaking children of younger and middle age was carried out for the first time. The study attempts to investigate the sociolinguistic problem of the reproduction of the Sakha language by preschool and school-age children in relation to the linguistic attitudes of their parents. The work’s theoretical significance lies in clarifying the content of the concept of ‘language mastery’ in relation to bilingualism from a sociolinguistic perspective. The study’s practical significance lies in the fact that the results obtained can be used to determine measures to improve children’s language skills.
The study of language competence is based on the theories of lexical semantics by Yu. Apresyan, the “Primordial Vocabulary” of Yu. Desheriev, the interference of L. Shcherba, E. Vereshchagin, A. Karlinsky, the psychological theory of coherent speech of A. Leontiev, S. Rubinstein, the language development methods of M. Alekseeva, B. Yashina, O. Ushakova, of E. Strunina and the socio-psycholinguistic approach of N. Ivanova.
The empirical material was collected during the implementation of the research project “Monitoring the native language level of Sakha children in preschools and secondary schools of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)” in 2024, within the framework of the state program “Preservation and Development of State and Official Languages in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in 2020–2024”. Interviews were conducted with 4,052 children aged 5 to 17 years, and a sociolinguistic survey of 1,574 parents in 14 target villages and in Yakutsk, which made it possible to establish not only the fact of language shift but also the conditioning of children’s linguistic development by the attitude of their parents. The oral interviewing method was used, including children’s stories about themselves, their family, and their daily routine, an interview on a picture, a picture-based story, a method of nonintegrative observation of children’s communication, and a sociolinguistic survey of parents, caregivers, and teachers. The collected material was processed using data analysis, interpretation, and systematization.

children's language proficiency, mother tongue level, Sakha language, Yakut language, bilingualism, sociolinguistic research, parents' language attitudes, lexical composition, coherent speech, speech behavior